Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of interior design. I feel like so many companies are capitalizing on the industry (HGTV, Houzz, Laurel & Wolf, and the like) and the independent designers & vendors are suffering for it. These companies aren’t going away and designers aren’t doing a great job of differentiating themselves. We’re undervaluing ourselves, lowering rates, dealing with crappy clients, and giving away work to try to stay relevant.

I wrote a bit about it in this article about project minimums.

I don’t know what to do about it. I find it frustrating. I know you find it frustrating. I have some ideas, but getting everyone on the same page feels impossible.

Do you relate to any of these scenarios?:

• You feel like clients zap your creativity.

• You aren’t making money.

• You give away hours because clients “won’t pay for all of them”.

• You let clients tell you how to price your services.

• You lower your fees if someone says you’re too expensive.

• You’re afraid to charge what you’re worth because you think clients won’t pay.

• You don’t have project minimums.

• You shop only retail (no trade accounts).

• You feel like you can’t say no.

I thought it was time we all started a dialogue and talking about possible improvement. So I’d love if you’d participate in a survey on this topic. I could really use your help, the more results the better the data. The results will be revealed and dissected in a later post. Thank you!